Colin Christmas
IAF Food Working Group Co-Convener
IQNET Association Representative

In the food industry, over the past years I have noticed some common questions.

Who are accreditation bodies (ABs)? Who is the International Accreditation Forum (IAF)? Who is the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)? Why is accreditation so important for the food sector?

To answer the first question. ABs are organizations responsible for assessing and accrediting conformity assessment bodies (CABs), such as testing laboratories, calibration laboratories, certification bodies (CBs), inspection bodies, and proficiency testing providers. ABs operate as either governmental entities or as independent organizations who are linked or working closely with governmental entities. This is dependent on the country and its regulatory framework.

To answer the second question. IAF is a global association of ABs and other organizations involved in conformity assessment activities. It promotes the worldwide acceptance of certification as well as facilitating trade by promoting the removal of technical barriers. ABs operate according to internationally recognized standards, providing assurance in the quality and competence of conformity assessment activities conducted by CBs. This helps businesses demonstrate that their products, services, and processes meet certain standards and requirements.

To answer the third question. ILAC is an international organization that promotes the global acceptance of accredited testing and calibration results. It facilitates international trade by ensuring that laboratories accredited by ILAC-recognized ABs meet internationally recognized standards for competence.

To answer the fourth question. Accreditation supports testing, inspection and certification of food systems. A food system is defined as a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, infrastructure, institutions, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes. Testing, inspection and certification considers these food sub-sectors: quality, worker safety, food safety, sustainability, environmental, energy, social responsibility, traceability, transparency, information security and food waste.

The key takeaway is that food systems demand an integrated approach. Whereby accredited conformity assessment activities are inter-related, making voluntary consensus standards that can be integrated, along with providing a common vocabulary (see ISO/IEC 17000 Conformity assessment – Vocabulary and general principles), critical for trade and compliance. Regulators can set policy requirements or detailed technical requirements and rely on accredited laboratories, inspection bodies, CBs or validation/verification bodies to check for compliance. International accreditation agreements ensure that such goods and services placed on the market, from whichever country of origin, meet standards of quality and safety.

To better explain some of these points, a food sub-series of four podcast episodes has been recorded for Accreditation Matters. Accreditation Matters is an IAF-ILAC podcast channel that discusses the importance of Quality Infrastructure for the three sustainable development pillars: people, planet and prosperity.

As the sub-series podcast host, I had the honor and privilege to talk with subject matter experts in the field of conformity assessment, who in many cases volunteer their time to support the food industry. This included representatives from ABs, CBs associations, national standards bodies, food scheme owners, non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and the public sector.

No single organization has all the answers for how food supply chains should be governed or how food trade should operate. Consensus is needed, along with a spirit of openness, which is essential for coherent and effective food systems. The food sub-series podcasts emphasized the importance of accreditation, as well as the importance of dialogue and collaboration. This leads to a willingness to come together to tackle some of the challenges the food sector faces in terms of facilitating global trade and compliance in the coming years and decades. I hope you enjoy listening to the episodes.

Find all the Accreditation Matters episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music, or watch the video versions on the IAF/ILAC YouTube channel.